Willie Mullins ponders steeplechase debut for Vautour at Navan

Navan

has hosted the steeplechase debuts of many good horses over the decades but rarely has there been the sense of expectation surrounding a newcomer to fences that there’s likely to be if Vautour

turns up at the Co Meath track this Sunday.

The Irish Stallion Farms Beginners Chase is worth just €15,000, and currently has 25 entries in total left in it, but Vautour is a stand-out proposition as Willie Mullins prepares to begin a novice campaign with the hugely-exciting French-bred.

Having opted not to go down the Champion Hurdle route with a horse that left him shocked with the ease of his Supreme success at Cheltenham last March, Mullins now has the pressure of formulating a steeplechase route back to the festival for which Vautour is already a 4-1 favourite in market for the Arkle and the JLT.

“He has the size and physique and on that performance we can’t wait to get over fences with him,” the normally restrained champion trainer memorably said after Vautour’s Supreme romp. “I thought he was good but I didn’t expect that. He has treated them like a bunch of maidens!”

Unbeaten

The horse is unbeaten in five starts for Mullins, the first of which came less than 11 months ago at Navan, the course that famously saw the first steeplechase start of Dawn Run 30 years ago. This Sunday’s race was won by the subsequent Grade One stalwart Flemenstar in 2011 in just his second appearance over fences.

A pair of Vautour’s stable companions are also entered for Sunday’s two-mile, one-furlong event but one of them, Dogora, also owned by Rich Ricci, also features among the entries for Sunday’s €100,000 Ladbrokes Troytown Chase.

He is one of three Mullins-trained possible among the 36 hopefuls for the prestigious three mile handicap which their trainer won in 2009 with Beroni. The 2011 winner Groody Hill, winner of a hurdle race at Fairyhouse on his recent comeback, is also in line for another crack at the race.

Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud landed the Troytown in 2012 with Tofino Bay but the Ryanair boss has never scored in the Grade Two Monksfield Novice Hurdle, something O’Leary appears intent on rectifying since he has five of the 13 entries left in Sunday’s black-type feature.

Rivals

They include the recent For Auction winner Mckinley as well as All Hell Let Loose who scored at Galway a month ago. O’Leary’s rival, JP McManus, has the option of running the unbeaten Free Expression.

Another of Mullins's Cheltenham festival winners from last March, Don Poli, could make his own chasing debut at Gowran on Saturday. Don Poli has been entered for a two-and-a-half mile Beginners Chase in what would be his first start since chasing home Beat That in a three-mile Grade One hurdle at the Punchestown festival in late-April. Prior to that, he had won the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockey Hurdle at Cheltenham under Mikey Fogarty. Don Poli is already a general 10-1 shot in ante-post betting for March's RSA Chase at Cheltenham.